Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2019 Issue

Magnificent Books and Photographs from the 19th Century Shop

Magnificent Books & Photographs.

The 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop has published a catalogue of Magnificent Books & Photographs. There's not much you can add to that. I will only say that "magnificent" is not an exaggeration. I imagine the unidentified man on the cover, who must be Walt Whitman, would probably agree, since a first edition of Leaves of Grass and other Whitman items are found in this catalogue. Here are a few other examples of what can be found in this selection.

 

As we are in the midst of political debate season, there seems nowhere more appropriate to start than with the most significant and famous American political debates ever. That could only be Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas in the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois. This is an account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates that occurred in Illinois in that state's senate race, two years before the two faced off in the momentous presidential election of 1860. Though Lincoln lost that senate election, it was his Republican Party that published the account of those debates. Lincoln kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings recording the speeches with hopes of having them published some day. In late 1859, the Republican State Central Committee in Ohio did him the honor of publishing it for him. It also includes Lincoln's famous house divided speech where he said that a nation could not long endure half slave and half free, and that he did not believe the house would remain divided or fall, that it would become one or the other. All of those soon came to pass, thanks to Lincoln's unwillingness to let the house fall. This compilation of the debates was used by Republicans in the 1860 election to help Lincoln overcome Douglas the second time around. Priced at $7,000.

 

Lincoln's reasoning was clear and logical, but today's political debates seem to follow the type of logic expressed in this other 1860s book. This is the first edition, second issue of that classic of logic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll, pen name for mathematics and logic professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, wrote this book of stories he made up for neighbors' children at the urging of one of those children, Alice Liddell. Carroll obtained the services of illustrator John Tenniel, and then had the first edition printed in London in 1865. Once it came off the press, Carroll distributed around 50 copies to his friends. However, Tenniel was displeased with the quality of the reproduction of his illustrations and wanted the printing destroyed. Carroll agreed, and wrote his friends asking they return their copies, that he would provide them with replacements when they were printed. The result is there are only around 20 copies of the first edition, first issue in existence, making it virtually unobtainable. Still, the publisher did not want to destroy the leaves they had printed for around 1,000 copies of a first edition because Tenniel and Carroll didn't think they were quite up to snuff. So, they bound up the sets, created a new title page, and shipped them off to America where standards, presumably, were not so demanding. The result is that the first American edition is the first edition, second printing, and the only obtainable first edition. The British got a superior copy, but it is the second edition. $48,000.

 

Next we have a collection of ten photographs related to what was essentially America's natives' last battle to retain their homeland. It turned out to be more of a slaughter than battle. The photographs were taken by James Mooney in the years 1892-93. That was two years after the massacre at Wounded Knee, but they pertain to the activity that led to that tragedy, the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was a ritual taught by the prophet Wovoka, or Jack Wilson. It came to him in a vision and he taught that it would resurrect the dead from his people, would protect them from the white man's guns, and drive the intruders from their land. The Indians were desperate by this time, many starving, and many believed in Wovoka's vision. We now know it did not turn out as he expected. Instead, 150 Indians were massacred on the Lakota Sioux reservation in Dakota. Mooney came to South Dakota in 1890 to investigate what had happened and was able to earn the confidence of several Indian tribes. He was allowed to participate in and photograph native dances and was even able to interview and photograph Wovoka. $35,000.

 

Here is another set of Western American photographs from the 19th century, but without the sad association of the Ghost Dance photos. This is a collection of 50 photographs of the West taken by Timothy O'Sullivan (35) and William Bell (15). They were taken from 1871-1874 during George Wheeler's survey of the West, covering parts of the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Idaho. O'Sullivan was the primary photographer, but Bell filled in for a while when he was sent on another assignment. Some of the most dramatic photographs were taken when they proceeded up the Colorado River, taken in the Black Canyon (where Hoover Dam was later built) and the Grand Canyon. There are others taken on Indian pueblos and Canyon de Chelly. Only 50 albums containing all 50 photographs were created, though a larger number containing just 25 were produced. Among the recipients were President Rutherford Hayes and the Library of Congress. $680,000.

 

One good western exploration deserves another. This next one took place at the beginning of the century, in the American Northwest rather than Southwest, and is the most famous of all American internal explorations. That would be Lewis and Clark's expedition. President Thomas Jefferson had wanted to explore the territory, but once the Louisiana Purchase was completed, he had the opportunity. He sent Captains Merriwether Lewis and William Clark off on their mission in 1804 and they went all the way from Missouri to the Pacific coast and back, returning in 1806. They issued their official report under the title History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. While this is a first edition, it was not published until 1814, intervening events causing the long delay. The map was issued as a separate item so only a limited number of copies contain the map. This is one. $175,000.

 

The 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop can be reached at 347-529-4534 or 410-602-3002, or at info@19thshop.com. Their website is found at www.19thshop.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000

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